Dear Mei Mei,
I’ve only met you a few times during World Vision volunteering experience. I doubt we exchanged more than 20 words but you left a great impression on me — a joyous individual who brightens not just the children and families you advocate for but the team that works with you towards the same cause.
There is no doubt that you are the sunshine everyone needs in life.
So I completed my Stage 3 Colon Cancer treatment (surgery and chemotherapy) 5 months ago, cleared my first follow up blood test 3 months ago, cleared my first follow up colonoscopy 2 months ago and just cleared my second follow up blood test today. I’m still in remission, which is a great news. Yay!
If you are interested to learn how cancer survivors feel about going for check up post-treatment, here’s my experience. Not the same for everyone but I feel this way. Continue reading How Post-Treatment Cancer Follow Up Feels Like
Many years back, perhaps when I was religiously reading Reader’s Digest during my commuting days to college, I came across an article about colonoscopy. About how a man vividly describes the explosive bowel prep he went through before a colonoscopy that he remembered almost nothing about.
Not very sure why that article left such a lasting impression on me but it definitely came in handy when I went for an unexpected colonoscopy almost eleven months ago. Continue reading My Recent Colonoscopy Experience
Today, I feel like sharing about a few persons that I have been following and are making a difference to me since my cancer diagnosis. These are people that I never knew before the Big-C, whose online advocacy has encouraged me during my treatment days.
They definitely influenced me to fight cancer the way I did.
Continue reading 3 Strangers Who Inspired Me To Fight Cancer The Way I Did
So. I’ve finally completed the 6-month chemotherapy journey. As I’m writing now, it has been 3 weeks since my final treatment that started on 14 Sept and ended on 16 Sept (Malaysia Day).
I felt like a veteran chemo patient by the final cycle. The chemo needle felt so normal. Going to the washroom every 20 min during chemo (because I was prescribed with med to make me pee more) felt normal. Leaving the chemo ward with needle on my chest felt normal.
I can’t believe that just a cycle before, I said that I was starting to feel numbness on my fingers and feet because by the end of my 11th cycle, the numbness has escalated pretty quickly.
I’ve started to feel less grip on my fingers and feet (not sure if it’s due to lack of sensation or I did indeed lose grip). I started wearing sandals to work because work ballerinas were causing blisters to my numb feet. I couldn’t feel my feet 100% and felt like they were getting weak too. Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #11
I’ve been itching to write about my Chemotherapy #10 immediately after meeting the oncologist because I almost got my pass to stop at #10! That’s huge news that came unexpectedly…
So what happened?
It has been 3 weeks since my 9th chemotherapy cycle. As usual, the side effects were never the same. After administering so much drug into my body for 9 times since March, I was finally confused which cycle I was at. Every time I got confused, I visited my blog to check the latest update on my chemotherapy treatment. Hehe.
Another remarkable (and depressing) experience during this chemotherapy cycle was numbness or tingling in my fingers and toes. At times, I felt it in my entire arm and foot too. According to Cancer Research UK, nearly everyone undergoing FOLFOX chemotherapy gets this side effect due to oxaliplatin drug. In worst case scenario, I’d have trouble buttoning my shirt, etc. Sadly, unlike other side effects that usually go away by the time I have my next treatment, this numbness and tingling feeling seems to persist. I still have it as I’m typing 3 weeks after my recent treatment. It’d take months to heal apparently. I hope it doesn’t get worse in my remaining 3 treatments. Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #9
I spent a long time (maybe an hour or more) with my oncologist during my first consultation before deciding on doing chemotherapy. But that’s only once. Ever since then, I may have held the record for the shortest consultation among the other patients, pretty much every round of chemotherapy.
Here’s kinda what I told my doctor about my 8th cycle…
I’ve been anticipating for this date: 26 July 2016. I can’t believe I pretty much forgot about it today because I was so distracted by my chemotherapy side effects! Anyway, I hit my 6-month mark post-colectomy surgery today! *pops confetti and champagne*
Going through chemotherapy made it felt like eons have passed since this Big-C adventure started. But looking back at the surgery, I’m feeling like “half a year already?” Clearly, the experience with the surgery and chemotherapy is very different. Continue reading #sharestrength – 6 Months After Surgery
